Czech government survives no-confidence motion over bitcoin scandal
PRAGUE (Reuters) -The Czech centre-right government on Wednesday survived a vote of no confidence, called after the acceptance of a payment to the state by an ex-convict worth $45 million in bitcoin sparked controversy within the ruling coalition months before an election.
The biggest opposition party, ANO, which leads opinion polls ahead of an October 3-4 election, had filed a no-confidence motion against Prime Minister Petr Fiala's government, accusing it of helping the former cybercriminal legitimise his bitcoin holdings of potentially illegal origin.
The motion failed after two days of debate in the lower house, where Fiala's ruling coalition led by his Civic Democrats Party, holds a majority.
Political veteran Pavel Blazek, from Fiala's party, resigned as justice minister on May 31 for accepting the payment on behalf of the state, though he denied doing anything illegal.
Fiala has called accepting the gift a political and ethical mistake.
The man who made the donation of 468 bitcoins to the state was in jail from 2017 until 2021 after being convicted of involvement in the drug trade, fraud and illegal possession of weapons for running an illegal drug market on the internet called Sheep Marketplace.
Blazek has faced criticism for possibly legitimising the ex-convict's assets, instead of turning to prosecutors or police to help secure them.
The gift, Blazek has said, was agreed to be 30% of bitcoins found in a wallet on computers returned to the ex-convict by courts earlier this year.
It was not clear what was the ex-convict's motivation to make the donation.
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Yahoo
40 minutes ago
- Yahoo
Ukraine has a problem no one is talking about – young women are leaving in droves
In a classroom in western Ukraine, a group of teenagers are thinking about their futures. Seventeen-year-old Kira Yukhymenko had always planned to go to university in her home country, but in between sitting her final exams this month, she has been dreaming of leaving to study abroad. 'The war has helped us understand who we are,' she said during a discussion in an English lesson at her school, Lyceum 88, in Lviv. 'It has broadened our horizons and also made us more independent.' Since the war broke out and martial law was introduced, young men have been banned from leaving Ukraine after they turn 18, but young women like Ms Yukhymenko are free to leave. In three years of conflict, large numbers of them have chosen to do so, swapping war-torn Ukraine for European cities far from the threat of Vladimir Putin's drones and bombs. Few have returned, and more are leaving with every passing year. As well as being a brain drain – some of Ukraine's brightest and best are among those leaving the country – the emigration wave is also a demographic time bomb. Locked in a costly war of attrition against Russia, there are real concerns over who will rebuild the country once the war is over, if the nation's youth does not return. The group of 30 final year pupils, seated at desks in pairs, had chosen the topic for debate themselves: education and future career opportunities in Ukraine. Their teacher, Liudmila Makohin, said many were considering emigrating. 'The situation is getting worse every day due to the war making young people choose universities in Europe not Ukraine,' she told The Telegraph. Ms Makohin asked the group to raise their hands if they planned to leave Ukraine after completing their exams. Three girls reacted quickly, before several other students – boys and girls – laughed nervously and tentatively raised their arms. Sofia, a student in the front row wearing a cream jumper and gold, hooped earrings, said the longer the war goes on, the more people want to leave. 'When the war started people were very enthusiastic,' she began. 'But a lot of time has gone by and people are more depressed. They think there's a better life in another country.' English teacher Halyna Pidhrebelna agrees. Commenting on the discussion later in a small staff room over coffee, she said girls who leave Ukraine 'don't see a future here' and believe better career opportunities lie abroad. She hoped a ceasefire might change the situation, but has lost faith in America's commitment to support Ukraine since Donald Trump was elected. Kira, seated a few rows back, said that being forced to flee Zaporizhzhia for the relative safety of Ukraine's western Lviv Region had changed her perspective. 'Before the war I wasn't thinking about leaving at all,' she said. 'My native city was small – not like Lviv, no such buildings and historical monuments. I thought I would go to university in Kyiv or Kharkiv.' With Poland just a few miles away, Kira and her family began visiting the country regularly. This exposure helped her to imagine studying in the similarly historic Polish city of Kraków. Poland has taken in more Ukrainian undergraduate students than any other European country. In 2023, almost 45 per cent of Poland's total foreign university student population was Ukrainian, according to data published by press agency Ukrinform. But the data also reveals a concerning surge in the numbers of young women choosing to leave Ukraine to study abroad. The number of female Ukrainian students entering Polish universities almost doubled in the year after the invasion, according to figures from the country's Radon data agency. The increase in the number of young men arriving was even greater. The allure of prestigious institutions in Europe is certainly a draw for young Ukrainians. But mostly, they just want to escape the war. 'When you have air raid alarms or bombing, there's no studying. You have to go online or in the bomb shelter – I want to achieve,' she said, adding that her best friend, who fled to Lviv from the Eastern Sumy Region, has also applied to university in Kraków. Classmate Tetiana Marvii, 17, had planned to stay in Lviv but changed her plans after a cousin received worse-than-expected grades – owing partly to air raid sirens during her exams. 'It's really stressful in Ukraine,' she said. A trip to see friends in nearby Lithuania inspired her to try and study international relations in the capital Vilnius – if she can pass an English language test for her course. 'It has been difficult to make this decision,' she admits, pressing her hands together. 'My parents said: you can do this, you are bright, you can go abroad. But I was not sure. My idea was just to have a life here – find a job, help my parents. But because the situation has changed, so have our plans.' Lithuania is a less common destination for Ukrainian students, with its national broadcaster LRT reporting that in 2024 there were 1,100 Ukrainians in total studying at its country's higher education institutions. Austrian public and private universities have seen large Ukrainian uptake in bachelor degree programmes. The number of female students doubled between 2021 and 2023, according to data provided by Statistics Austria from 223 to 447. Taras Hryvniak, 17, a former student at Lviv Physics and Maths Lyceum, left his family to study at the University of Vienna, Austria. When he turns 18, if he crosses the border back into Ukraine, he will not be allowed to return. Taras denied that Ukraine's conscription laws influenced his choice, but admits: 'My family loved this decision very much because my mum is scared for me.' Taras said half of the boys in his school class left for Europe, and almost as many girls. 'It's a really big amount,' he said. 'But my class was a good class. One of my friends studies at Cambridge University now. People are leaving because they want to gain new knowledge.' Angelina Kalyniuk, 18, finished school in Ukraine's Ivano-Frankivsk Region in 2023 before starting her degree at Kraków University of Economics. She said parents often try to push their children to leave Ukraine. 'I've heard situations where a child doesn't want to go but the parents said it was the best choice,' she said, pointing out that Ukraine has been at war since 2014. 'There is always something flying through the sky in Ukraine,' she said. 'Parents just want their children to have the best life.' Svitlana Bozhko, a teacher from Lviv, still has lessons with Angelina over Zoom and worries about who will rebuild the country after the war. 'She's a smart girl, and I'd like such people to be here,' she said, affectionately. 'We lose a lot of students, it is so upsetting.' Of the 34 students in her grade 11 class, eight girls and ten boys plan to leave this year. Tackling youth emigration is high on the agenda of Ukraine's Ministry of Education and Sciences (MoES). Yevhen Kudriavets, Ukraine's First Deputy Minister of Education and Science, told The Telegraph that efforts to retain the country's human capital would determine 'whether we can survive, rebuild the economy, and develop the state'. While there is no specific mechanism capturing the number of young women leaving Ukraine, various indicators show Ukraine's child population is sharply decreasing. There are now about 2.3 million Ukrainian child refugees living outside Ukraine, the majority of them in Europe, according to the United Nations. Ukraine's birth rate is falling, and MoES statistics show that the number of pupils starting school has fallen by almost a third nationally since 2021. 'This trend will continue and by 2029, the number of first graders will decrease by another 30 per cent,' Mr Kudriavets said. At least 701 children have been killed, and more than 19,000 deported or forcibly displaced. Tito Boeri, professor of economics at Bocconi University and the co-author of a 2022 study on Ukraine's labour market says Ukraine's emigration issue is 'very serious'. 'You can reconstruct physical capital – it takes time, but still can be done,' he told The Telegraph. 'Reconstructing human capital is way more challenging and may actually not succeed.' With an eye on the country's future, the Ukrainian government has made education a priority second only to defence. In 2024, the state budget allocated 171.2bn UAH (almost £3.3bn) to education – more than a fifth higher than the previous year. Much of this investment is aimed at school-level education, particularly on building underground schools so children in frontline areas can still be taught in-person. But the MoES is also investing heavily in higher education. Last year it introduced a state grant to help students cover the expenses of studying for bachelors degrees inside the country. More than 13,000 first year students received grants of up to 32,000 UAH (£608), and can continue to claim support annually. In 2021, the World Bank awarded Ukraine $200m (£156m) over five years to modernise teaching and research facilities in higher education. This includes merging and reducing the number of universities. Mr Kudriavets said the funding is crucial to increasing the sector's competitiveness. 'The current network of HE institutions in Ukraine was designed for the planned economy of the former Soviet Union,' he said. 'It must be restructured to align with new economic and geopolitical realities.' The government's efforts on education appeared to be working – at least for a time. Between 2021 and 2023, the total number of students starting bachelor level degree courses in Ukraine actually increased by almost a fifth from 203,452 to 239,008. One reason for the upswing was a change in the country's mobilisation law that offered exemption from military conscription for full-time male students. Another factor were financial benefits offered to children of military personnel, including tuition fees, free dormitory accommodation and textbooks, which encouraged more school-leavers to apply. But in 2024, the number of students on bachelor's courses fell dramatically by almost 51,700 students. This was partly because more than a tenth of applicants failed to pass entrance exams, raising concerns about the quality of school-level education. As well as trying to encourage students to stay in Ukraine, the MoES is investing in career opportunities to tempt Ukrainians left back after studies abroad. For example, it is developing a network of 'science parks' to promote innovation, and attract investment and job creation in high-tech industries. The newest one opened in Kyiv last month. Mr Kudriavets added that these efforts came while the ministry is also having to rebuild bombed schools – 3,676 education institutions have been damaged or destroyed since 2022. He is confident that the government can staunch the emigration flow: 'We can make Ukraine a country where young people see their future.' With no end to the fighting in sight, Kira is unsure whether she will return – Poland is a doorway to the rest of Europe. But war in Ukraine has made uncertainty her new normal. 'Life is so difficult,' she sighs. 'I don't know what tomorrow will be.' Protect yourself and your family by learning more about Global Health Security Broaden your horizons with award-winning British journalism. Try The Telegraph free for 1 month with unlimited access to our award-winning website, exclusive app, money-saving offers and more.
Forbes
an hour ago
- Forbes
A U.K. News Venture Is Seeking To Buck The Global Trend Of Declining Sales
The New World, founder and Editor in Chief., Matt kelly says willingness to act on gut instinct is ... More part and parcel of being an entrepreneur Question: How do you make a small fortune? Punchline: Easy. You start with a large fortune and then invest in a newspaper business. As jokes go, it's not side-splittingly funny, but it does reflect the realities of the newspaper industry. Globally, sales of national, regional and local newspapers have been in decline for around two decades. To make matters worse, advertisers have long since moved a significant portion of their spending online, a trend that has made life even tougher for publishers that retain a commitment to printed media. Looking ahead, it seems likely that sales and circulation figures will continue to fall. So, on the face of it, this does not seem like a particularly opportune time to take an entrepreneurial bet on a news-focused publication that was born out of the turmoil caused by the U.K.'s decision to leave the European Union. But that's what Matt Kelly, founder and Editor in Chief of The New World ( previously, The New European) is doing. With the backing of some high profile investors, he is rebranding the publication, with the aim of increasing its circulation and appeal at a time when the market tides seem to be running in the other direction. When I spoke to him, I was keen to get his view on the scope for entrepreneurship to flourish in a print media market that seems to be in continuing decline. Launched in 2016, The New European was intended to be a four-edition pop-up newspaper - a temporary exercise aimed at putting the pro-EU case and lobbying for a second referendum. Almost a decade later, it has achieved profitability on the back of about 33,000 paid sales per edition. Now rebranded as The New World, its focus has widened, and Kelly sees an opportunity to expand the subscriber base nationally and ultimately internationally. If the original brief was to counter the politics that drove Brexit, the new remit is to take a stance against what Kelly describes as global populism. As he acknowledges, changing a formula that is currently delivering a profit is an inherently risky undertaking. 'I feel this is an audacious thing to do,' he says. 'It gives me massive butterflies in my stomach. We have made the New European profitable, and now we are rolling the dice again. But it is a necessary boldness. Part and parcel of being an entrepreneur is a willingness to act on gut instinct and take a risk.' Standing still could be a bigger risk. While the publication found an audience, a continuing focus on reversing Brexit may not bring in new subscribers in the future, nor prevent existing readers from cancelling over time. The hope is that a rebrand will re-engage the existing audience and prove attractive to newcomers. If that kind of pivot makes sense, the move has to be seen against the realities of the U.K.'s newspaper market. According to a 2024 survey by media regulator Ofcom, 51% of British adults got most of their news from newspapers in 2018. By 2024, this had fallen to 34%, with only 22% using print and the rest favoring online editions. Meanwhile, there is also evidence that populations around the world are turning away from news. A global survey by the Reuters Institute for Journalism uncovered a trend towards disengagement, 39% of respondents sometimes or often avoided news. So, how do you counter that trend, particularly if you're a niche publisher, albeit one with a national reach. The short answer might be, you provide a product that resonates with the target audience. As Kelly recalls, there was no business plan for The New European until the first circulation figures came in. 'I would have been happy with six or seven thousand,' he says. 'The first week's total was 40,000. That showed there was a viable market for a niche magazine.' Initially, the title was owned by regional publisher Archant, which ran into financial problems and was bought out by private equity. At that point, Kelly sought investors to back his business plan and managed to attract some well-known names from tech and media. These included VCs Saul and Robin Klein, TransferWise founder Taavet Hinrikus and figures from the media, including CNN's Mark Thompson, former FT editor Lionel Barber and Ed Elliot of media firm Edelman. 'Some like Saul and Robin are VCs, but they are investing as angels,' says Kelly. 'We have also allocated 16,000 shares to people who have invested between £15 and £2,000. They are mostly readers.' The investors are aligned with the mission, so is this merely a good deed in wicked world rather than true investment? Kelly insists that is not the case. 'There is goodwill here, but this is a business. The investment isn't philanthropy,' he says. As he acknowledges, the investors probably won't see the 10x or 20x return demanded by VCs but if the time comes to sell the exit value could be driven by more than sales and revenues. 'I think any future buyer will be paying for influence,' Kelly says. The aim, therefore, is to ensure the publication becomes more influential.' Despite the pressures caused by the ongoing declining circulation trend, there has been a flurry of investment in the U.K. media market lately. A relative newcomer Tortoise Media has bought the venerable Observer newspaper from the Guardian for an undisclosed sum and political magazine, The Spectator has been purchased by Sir Paul Marshall for £100 million. Sir Paul was also an investor in right-leaning television startup GB News. So is this a good time for media entrepreneurship? Kelly is cautiously optimistic, arguing that after a period in which traditional publishing models were upended by the internet, business models are once again becoming clear. For its part, The New World sees subscription rather than advertising as the revenue driver. And the appetite of the audience is changing. So there is an opportunity for new entrants that can say we represent what you (the reader) are feeling.' And of course that's a principle that cuts in a lot of directions. While the The New World is designed to appeal to progressives, the GB News TV channel - another post-Brexit enterprise - is aimed at those who dress right. The common factor is giving a niche audience what it relates to . That's probably the space in which news media entrepreneurship can thrive in right now. From political YouTube channels to print and broadcast platforms, there are audience segments that are hungry for outlets that reflect their own outlook. For those who can keep costs down and clear focus, there can be money to be made, even if in the bigger media world, the commercial pressures are huge. I
Yahoo
2 hours ago
- Yahoo
Iran's supreme leader warns U.S. of 'irreparable harm'
Iran's supreme leader warns U.S. of 'irreparable harm' originally appeared on TheStreet. Iran's supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, has warned the United States against becoming involved in the conflict and stated that if the U.S. engages in military action, there would be "irreparable harm." President Donald Trump is contemplating U.S. involvement after Israel launched over 50 airstrikes in the vicinity of Tehran, specifically nuclear construction, and weapons installations. "They should make threats against those who are afraid of being threatened. The Iranian nation isn't frightened by such threats. The harm the US will suffer will definitely be irreparable if they enter this conflict militarily." said Khamenei on X. While tensions continue to rise, there have been no U.S. strikes overnight. Iran's ballistic missile activity has appeared to slow a bit, but Israel did claim that it shot down three drones on Wednesday. As per the Financial Times, Russia has also entered the war. Russia condemned the Israeli actions, with foreign ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova warning the strikes could provoke a "broader nuclear conflict." Russian President Vladimir Putin and UAE leader Mohammed bin Zayed expressed "deep concern". The Russian intelligence agency also added that there could be 'negative consequences for the whole region.' While geopolitical concerns are growing, crypto markets remain under pressure. The price of Bitcoin has decreased by 4.05% over the past week, currently standing at $104,783.19, amid concerns about investor exposure. Ethereum stands at $2,509.50, down by 9.30% over the week, as per Kraken. Attacks on cryptocurrency companies have also been a part of the Israel-Iran conflict. On June 18, Nobitex, the largest crypto exchange in Iran, suffered a cyberattack when hackers gained access to part of its reporting system and hot wallets. Nobitex assured that all users in cold storage are safe and that they would fully compensate affected accounts. Predatory Sparrow, a group associated with Israel, took an opportunity to publicly state that they attacked Nobitex because it's the leading exchange for Tehran to evade sanctions. Iran's supreme leader warns U.S. of 'irreparable harm' first appeared on TheStreet on Jun 18, 2025 This story was originally reported by TheStreet on Jun 18, 2025, where it first appeared. Error in retrieving data Sign in to access your portfolio Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data
